Bratt Elementary Ranked As The Number One School In Escambia County
July 9, 2008
Bratt Elementary school was the highest scoring school in Escambia County in the Florida Department of Education School Grades released Tuesday.
Schools must achieve 525 points with the state to achieve “A” status. Bratt’s score was 637 — essentially and A+ on the school grade scale — beating out each and every other school in the county.
In fact, no other school in the county broke the 600 mark. West Florida High School was the next highest scoring school in the county at 589 points.
The scores are based on student achievements on the FCAT tests and Sunshine State Standards. The standards and grades are meant to show how well a particular school is performing to education department standards.
Carver/Century Improves From an F to a B School
July 8, 2008
It’s official…Carver/Century K-8 School’s Florida School Score has improved dramatically, from an “F” to a “B” as NorthEscambia first reported Monday afternoon.
The Florida Department of Educations’ School Accountability Scores were not officially released until Tuesday morning. But Principal Jeff Garthwaite said he received a call Monday afternoon from the department.
“I am proud to say Carver-Century has gone from an ‘F’ to a ‘B’,” he said. “This school has been doing something right, and now we have proved it.”
“I’ve called key people on the staff, and I have called you,” Garthwaite told NorthEscambia.com Monday afternoon. “The reaction has been from ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ to out and out screams.”
“What we have been saying all along is that this school offers among the highest educational opportunities in the Escambia school system,” he said. “It was just a matter of putting the right practices into place, and we have just proved it.”
“I’m excited, and I am just tickled to death,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said. “That shows that we have an administrator there now and teachers that can do the job. They busted their rumps to get that score up.”
Escambia School Superintendent Jim Paul has been expected to recommend closure of the school to save an estimated $680,000 per year and because of the school’s “F” rating. He was to have made that official recommendation on June 26, but the meeting was advertised as a workshop rather than an official meeting.
Paul had announced that we would not seek to close the school for the 2008-2009 school year, but a district spokesman indicated a few weeks ago that Paul would seek closure of the school for the 2009-2010 school year.
“The implications that this adds to closing the school, well, it just adds some excitement to that,” Garthwaite said.
During the course of the year, the school held an FCAT cash grab to motivate students, burned a symbolic wood “F” in a bonfire, held community meetings and even held a prayer service to turn the school’s future over to God.
For a complete story on all the area school scores released Tuesday morning, click here.
You can add your comments to this story at the bottom of this page.
Pictured above: During the past school year, Carver/Century even held a prayer service for the school where they turned the school’s future over to God. The school’s state grade has now soared from an “F” to a “B”. Pictured below: Principal Jeff Garthwaite with a symbolic “F” that the school faculty burned back in February. Pictured bottom: One of the sticky notes on the wood “F”. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Kate Sherrill Named Salutatorian Of Class
July 1, 2008
Kate Elizabeth Sherrill of Walnut Hill recently served her class at the Christian Institute of Arts and Sciences as salutatorian.
CIAS is an umbrella school, accredited by the state of Florida, which oversees home-schooled students in a rigorous college preparatory program. In addition to her course work at CIAS, Kate was duel-enrolled at Jefferson Davis Community College.
Kate was named to Who’s Who in American High Schools, is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars, and is on the National Honor Roll.
She is also active with the Greater Escambia Council of the Arts, appearing most recently as the witch in Into the Woods.
Kate works at Annie’s Community Cup and serves Walnut Hill Baptist Church as pianist. She also teaches private piano lessons.
She will attend Faulkner State Community College this fall on a vocal music scholarship. Kate is the daughter of Kent and Anne Sherrill and the granddaughter of Sam and Dean Graham and the late Hunk and Senie Sherrill.
UWF Names Spring Honor Students
June 29, 2008
The University of West Florida has named its spring semester Dean’s Honors List and President’s Honor List.
All undergraduate students who earn a grade point average equal to or greater than 3.5 on a minimum of six semester hours of graded coursework at UWF are recognized on the Dean’s Honor List.
All undergraduate students who earn a grade point average equal to or greater than 3.9 on a minimum of six semester hours of graded coursework at UWF are recognized on the President’s Honor List.
The following students from the North Escambia area were named to the Dean’s Honor List at UWF:
Century: Rachel Andrews, Amy Benauer, David Bryan, Nicole Cook, John Doran, Bradley Faulk, Stella Harrelson, Thessalon Harrison, Rachel Killam, Amy Underwood.
McDavid: Danette Walker
Molino: Jason Amnott, Emily Coleman, Jennifer Sigler, Christopher Wade, John Whitfield.
Cantonment: Melissa Aiken, Jacob Armbrust, Stacey Barnes, Jessica Bousquet, Cynthia Boyd, Michele Bradley, Dorothy Carr, Charnai Carrier, Michael Colonna, Camillee Deguzman, Brook Edmisten, Crystle Ellis, Arthur Fletcher, Thomas Ford, Victoria Fox, Whitney Gay, Katelyn Geri, Laura Ghiorso, Elizabeth Godwin, Heather Graham, Kenneth Gray, Mariah Guilford, Tadessa Ham, Nicole Haubrich, Brandy Ingram, Patricia Jones, Michael Kyle, Corrie Lenn, Katie Lewis, Christina Luciano, James McAllister, Ryan McCauley, Kelley McDowell, Linsey McLain, Lauren McManus, Christopher Meade, Jessica Miller, Heather Miller, Michael Moehle, Aaron Moneyham, Chelsea Pipkins, Joseph Potts, Kathleen Renfrow, Stacy Ross, Brandon Sapp, Stefanie Swords, Mohammad Taha, George Trice, Heather Walpole, Carl Weber, Cherith Welter.
The following students from the North Escambia area were named to the President’s Honor List at UWF:
Century: Brittany Levins, Carla Payne.
McDavid: Jarrod Brown, Kyle Simpson, Scott Walker, Brandon Walker.
Molino: Susan Arnette, Cynthia Plenkers, Kristen Smith, William Tanner, Noel Taylor.
Cantonment: Cara Armbrust, Sean Bowers, David Bramblett, Janet Branch, Rachel Castleman, Patricia Cazenavette, Jennifer Chambers, Amanda Clanton, Ruth Corbin, Leah Duff, Caitlin Duff, Susann Fehl, Stephanie Godfrey, Jennifer Godwin, Brittany Green, Angela Hensel, Ashley Kotwal, Christina Kwon, Anthony Manzi, Scott Miller, Teresa Mullins, Kelly Poley, Christopher Rawson, Brooke Rowell, Steve Schickel, Charlotte Somerville, Kaitlin Teets, Jamie Vail, Cole Yuknis.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Comes To Century
June 28, 2008
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has come to Century, with plans to provide a free book every month for every child under five years old.
In 1996, Dolly launched an e new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. And she wanted to insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.
She decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under five in Sevier County, Tennesee. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mailbox. These moments continue each month until the child turns five,and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.
Now children under in the Century area can signup for the same program under the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. They will receive a new age appropriate book each month until they turn five…all at absolutely no cost. And, there are no income requirements for the program.
“Parents will not pay a dime for the program,” said Larry Kenny from the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County which administers the program locally. “They will not be added to any kind of mailing list; their information is kept private and used only to mail the books free of charge to their homes.”
Century area parents were able to enroll their children in the program for the first time during a celebration the the Campfire USA Child Development Center.
Parents can continue to enroll their children in the free program during regular business hours at Campfire USA on Industrial Boulevard and at the Century Pharmacy on Mayo Street.
Funding for the program in the Century area is provided by the Teaspoon Foundation and Century Pharmacy.
Pictured above: Jared Bevan, 4, enjoys reading one of the books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at Campfire USA in Century Friday morning. Pictured below: Some of the books from the program. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview Student Elected State Representative For National Council
June 27, 2008
Olivia Bryan of Bratt was recently chosen as Florida’s only representative on the national Youth Leadership Council while on a trip to Washington, D.C.
The Youth Leadership Council (YLC) is a joint effort of local electric co-ops, statewide cooperative associations and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Olivia attended the 2008 Youth Tour in Washington as a representative of Escambia River Electric Cooperative, one of about 1,500 high school students visiting the nation’s capital as representatives of their rural electric cooperative.
Each state is entitled to have one representative on the Youth Leadership Council. The YLC is designed to provide participants with stronger leadership skills, presentation skills and a broader understanding of rural electric cooperatives.
Students competing for their state’s spot on the Youth Leadership Council had to face a panel of judges and explain their goals and interests, academic standing and past accomplishments. Then each contestant was given six minutes to prepare a speech on a given topic and present it to the judges and fellow youth tour delegates.
The speech had to be address how youth could cause state at the national, state and local levels.
“In my speech, I focused on if we wanted to cause a change, we had to be the change” Olivia told NorthEscambia.com. “There was not a lot of time to prepare. I was surprised they liked my speech the best because some of the others were really good.”
Now that she is on the Youth Leadership Council, Olivia will head back to Washington for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Leadership Conference in July for leadership training. And then she will attend to the NRECA Annual Meeting in New Orleans in February of 2009. At the July meeting, one student will be chosen as the national Youth Leadership Conference Spokesperson and will speak to the thousands at the NRECA Annual Meeting.
“I’m excited to see what kinds of doors this may open for me,” Bryan said. “I’m also interested to see what the leadership training in Washington will have to offer.”
While in Washington as EREC’s representative on the Youth Tour, Olivia visited the U.S. Capital where she met with Florida Congressman Jeff Miller on the Capital steps. She was also able to visit most of the national memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial.
She was most impressed with the Lincoln Memorial, Olivia said. “It was huge. I never realized the scale of it.”
Olivia is the daughter of Robert and Rebecca Ryan of Bratt. She will be senior this fall at Northview High School.
For more photos from Olivia Bryan’s Washington trip, click here.
Pictured above: Northview student Olivia Bryan on the steps on the U.S. Capital in Washington. Pictured below: Olivia (turned sideways in the black dress) talks with Florida Congressman Jeff Miller on the Capital steps. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
School District Updates Ernest Ward School Times; Other Schools Changing
June 20, 2008
Ernest Ward Middle School’s start and release times will not drastically change as first announced Wednesday by the Escambia County School District.
For the next school year, Ernest Ward will start at 8:30 a.m. and dismiss at 3:10 p.m., according to Shawn Dennis, assistant superintendent for operations.
“That’s just 10 minutes later to start and five minutes later to get out,” Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry said.
The school district had announced late Wednesday, and NorthEscambia.com reported on Thursday, that Ernest Ward’s day would be 9:30 to 4:30 like most other middle schools in the district. After the news release was issued by the school district, NorthEscambia.com confirmed the times with Ronnie Arnold, district spokesperson.
But Dennis said the schedule has since been updated to reflect the correct 8:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. school day for Ernest Ward.
Gindl-Perry said she would be placing automated phone calls to Ernest Ward parents informing them of the change, but those phone calls would not go to parents of incoming sixth graders unless they had another child in the school.
New school start and dismissal times will also apply for Bratt Elementary School, Carver/Century K-8 School and Molino Park Elementary School.
Bratt and Molino Park will start at 7:30 a.m. and release at 2:00 p.m. The earliest drop off time for both schools will be 7:05.
At Carver/Century, the only combined middle and elementary school in the county, the start time will be 9:00 with dismissal at 3:30. The earliest drop off time at Carver/Century will be 8:35.
Northview High School will not follow the 8:30-3:45 schedule of the other high schools in the county. Northview’s day will begin at 7:40 with release at 2:45. The earliest drop off time for Northview students will be 7:25.
The district expects changes in bus routes to accommodate the new school times to save about $1 million and take 30 buses off the roads. The change also adds 30 more minutes of instructional time at the elementary level.
For the rest of the county:
- Elementary schools will start at 7:30 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.
- High schools will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:35 p.m.
- Middle schools will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 4:35 p.m.
NorthEscambia.com graphic.
One More Year For Carver/Century; Then Closure Recommended
June 18, 2008
School Superintendent Jim Paul will recommend the closure of Carver/Century K-8 School at a budget workshop on June 26.
The school will remain open for the the upcoming 2008-2009 school year, but will close before the 2009-2010 school year if Paul’s recommendation is approved by the five member school board. The schools 200 plus students would be transferred mostly to Bratt Elementary and Ernest Ward Middle School.
“Superintendent Jim Paul announced today that he will recommend the closure of Carver/Century K-8 in 2009-2010 at the June 26 special budget meeting of the School Board of Escambia County,” Ronnie Arnold, associate superintendent and district spokesperson said in an email news release Tuesday morning, several hours after NorthEscambia.com was first to report the school’s fate.
Closing the school for this school year was not logistically feasible, Arnold told NorthEscambia.com. “He (Paul) did not feel it could be closed in the right way in that time frame.”
“The superintendent cited a lack of adequate time to prepare for an effective closure for 2008-2009 as the overriding factor in his decision,” the news release said.
The 57 employees at the school will be offered jobs elsewhere in the system.
Building Trade and Construction Design Academy Established at NHS
June 18, 2008
The Northview High School Academy of Building Trades and Construction Design was officially established Tuesday night by the Escambia County School Board.
The program, essentially a small school within a school, has been in the works for some time.
Students at Northview will have the option of taking construction related classes as they have in the past, or they can enroll in the academy at Northview. In the academy, their other classes such as algebra, science and writing will revolve around the construction trade. For instance, if they take a construction academy algebra class, their work will center on learning to do algebra as it might be useful in the construction industry.
“Lots of students already take construction at Northview,” Principal Gayle Weaver said. “They like to work with their hands and do things in wood, plastic, glass and metal.”
“The construction academy will give the opportunity to take that a step further and learn the construction trades,” she said.
The school recently sent letters to the parents of all of the incoming ninth graders that signed up for a construction class trying to build interest in the program. Weaver said that very few students have enrolled in the program, but she expects enrollment to increase over time as students and parents learn more about what the Northview High School Academy of Building Trades and Construction Design has to offer.
Northview teacher Tom Meehan will oversee the academy. Meehan teaches drafting and construction technology. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Armstrong Atlantic University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of West Florida. Meehan has been teaching about nine years.
Specialized academies were also established by the school board at other county high schools. They include:
- J.M. Tate High School Early Childhood Education Academy
- Pine Forest High School Early Childhood Education Academy
- Pine Forest High School Culinary Arts Academy
- West Florida High School of Advanced Technology Multimedia Academy
- Washington High School Early Childhood Education Academy
- Washington High School Health Science Academy
School Board Makes North Escambia Personnel Changes
June 18, 2008
The Escambia County School Board approved several personnel changes at North Escambia schools at their Tuesday night meeting in Pensacola.
The board made the following reappointments for the upcoming school year at North Escambia schools:
- Clara Cobb, Bratt Elementary School
- Charlie Code, Northview High School
- Sherri Mims, Ernest Ward Middle School
One teacher transferred to a North Escambia school:
- Rebecca Hatch, from Sherwood to Molino Park Elementary
The following teachers and staff from North Escambia schools have resigned, all effective June 4:
- Erin Branch, teacher, Bratt Elementary
- Kathryn Hale, speech and language, Carver/Century
- Mark Heaton, teacher, Northview High School
- Tracy Jennings, teacher, Molino Park Elementary
- Janet Taylor, teacher, Carver/Century
The board also noted the passing of Molino Park Elementary School teacher Sharon Smith on May 30, 2008.
In other business, the school board approved the final payments for hurricane repairs to Carver/Century K-8 School, Ernest Ward Middle School and Byrneville Elementary School.